


who are you, really?

by killjoywhatsername



Category: Nightwing (Comics), Teen Titans - All Media Types, Titans (TV 2018)
Genre: Angst, Bisexual Dick Grayson, Dark Humor, Dick Grayson is Renegade, Dick is trying okay?, Gen, M/M, POV Dick Grayson, Slade Wilson's A+ Parenting
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-25
Updated: 2019-09-25
Packaged: 2020-10-28 05:47:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,801
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20773544
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/killjoywhatsername/pseuds/killjoywhatsername
Summary: Jason is missing and Dick makes a deal to get him back.





	who are you, really?

Dick Grayson’s life had always been a mess. It had kicked him in the ass more times than he cared to admit. It shouldn’t have surprised him that just as things were taken care of with Trigon a new, or rather an old, demon would appear in his life again. 

It would be his luck that his knack for helping others would lead him to helping Deathstroke’s daughter. Not that she seemed to want anything to do with her dad besides run her sword through him, but still the fact remained that it had caused tension in the house. 

Enough tension that Jason felt like he needed to go take on Dr. Light on his own. 

Dick listened to Gar’s story three times looking for anything that could help him. He watched the security footage and investigated the tunnel. All he found for his efforts was unconscious body of Dr. Light who was now in a coma.

He looked at the screens in front of him. Rubbing his eyes from exhaustion. Jason was taken nineteen hours ago. He hadn’t gotten any sleep. He knew he should have called Bruce but he really didn’t need his failures being thrown at him right now. A worried Bruce means an angry Bruce and right now he didn’t want to be a metaphorical punching bag. Besides, Bruce didn’t know what happened years ago with Deathstroke and the original Titans. It was a secret kept among themselves.

His phone began to ring. ‘Baby Shark’ rung out through the room. Jason had changed the ringtone one day without Dick noticing and he never changed it back. Dick answered the phone before the first “do” could be sung. 

“Jay?” He asked, too hopeful. 

“You know better, kid.” A deep voice said. Dick sometimes had nightmares that had that voice in it. 

Dick sat up in his seat, “What do you want?”

“Meet me in Jump City at our old stomping ground. 0300. Come alone or else this dirty bird loses his wings.” A click followed and with that the other man ended the conversation. Dick would have snorted at the bird puns. He normally would have made a joke about how cliche bird insults were and how only two-bit criminals make them anymore, but he was too stressed over the situation. He had just started to get to know Jason over these past few months. Sure, they butted heads on more than one occasion, but he was starting to see him as a brother. Now, it was like he had lost another family member.

He looked at the time. Jump City was about a three hour drive from their base. It was just a little past eleven so he would just be making it if he left now. Leave it to Slade to give him no time to get ready. Just another disadvantage. 

He went to his room for some supplies. He no longer had his Robin suit which was something he was now deeply regretting, but he did have some weapons that he was itching to break out. He took a bo staff and some of his old gadgets such as smoke pellets and batarangs. He was just about a packed when he heard a movement behind him. He sighed in relief when it saw it was just Rose standing in the doorway. If it had been any of the original Titans they would have been already talking him out of what he was about to do. 

“Where are you going?”

Dick thought about it. He should tell her the truth, it was her dad after all and keeping secrets is what put them in this situation in the first place. But, if he told her the truth, she would want to come with him and he couldn’t have that. He didn’t know Rose, but he knew her father. Even though she was an excellent fighter she would only get in the way if she tagged along. He didn’t want to be entangled in their family drama more than he already was, which was a lot.

“I am going to see Jason and I’s mentor, Batman.” He said, swinging the bag over his shoulder. 

She crossed her arms, but her facial expression softened, “If you two find my dad and kill him without me, I’ll hunt you down.”

Dick laughed. It was empty but it was the closest thing he felt to normalcy in the past twenty-hours, “Batman doesn’t kill people and you’re good but not that good. Keep your training up while I’m gone.”

* * *

He never thought he would ever go back to Jump City. There was a reason he chose San Francisco as the new base of operations rather than go back to their roots. He loved the city. It was so different from Gotham. It was full of life and art. There was color seemingly everywhere. Gotham always seemed to have a grime to it. Even in the daylight it seemed dark. Jump also had just enough action to keep things interesting but not an onslaught of horrible people like Gotham seemingly had. He liked Detroit well enough, and San Francisco was great, but Jump felt like home. 

He chose the porsche today because he figured it was something Jason would pick to drive and because he was still sad he had to give away his other one. He pulled into the ‘old stomping ground’ as Slade had called it which really was just an old warehouse where the Titans first battled Deathstroke. Sixteen year old Dick had gotten his ass thoroughly kicked that day. 

He arrived there with five minutes to spare.

He got of the car and did a sweep of the area. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary but that didn’t mean anything when Deathstroke was involved. 

“Nice car. A little flashy.” Slade said from the left. Dick looked over to see him strolling out of the shadows like some dark entity. He was wearing his suit without the mask. The armor only enhanced his intimidating presence. He hadn’t looked a day older than when Dick had first met him. He knew it was due to the government testing Slade had been through, but it was still jarring to see. 

“Where’s Jason?” Dick didn’t want to make small talk. 

Slade raised an eyebrow, ““Are you sure you want your replacement back? Could just let me kill him and you’d be the only Robin.”

Dick shook his head. Of course he would deflect the question and it wouldn’t be that easy. It never was. Fuck it, small talk it was. He was playing by Slade’s rules and if this what he had to do first then so be it. At least banter was easy. It was one of the few things he loved about being a hero, “Your intel is a bit out of date. I am done being Robin.”

“Is that why you’re out here without a mask?”

Dick shrugged. Ever since the incident with Light and the car he had been deeply concerned that Slade had known his identity but he wasn’t going to let Slade know he was worried. “Somehow you know who I am. Last week with Dr. Light proved it and now this. Which by the way, Light, really? Seemed a bit beneath you.”

“He got the job done.”

“Failing to kill us?”

Slade chuckled but his voice was deadly serious, “To splinter you off and cause strife. It’s how I got the dirty bird.”

“Where is he?” Dick all but growled. 

“He’s fine. A little broken because he’s a mouthy thing, but he’s alive.” 

Dick took a step forward. It was not the time to fight, he needed Jason back before he could do anything, but giving into Slade’s bait was looking more appealing by the second, “What do you want?”

“I want you to come work for me.”

Well, out of everything Dick was prepared to here from the mercenary, it was not that. He expected Slade to want money or more likely for him to just be an utter asshole and hold it over him for kicks, but he was not expecting this.

“What the fuck?” He asked without thinking.

Slade crossed his arms and looked at him like he was stupid. Even if Rose didn’t already look like a carbon copy of her father this would solidify the fact that they were related. 

“I’ll let Jason Todd free if you come work for me. I will also stop tormenting the other Titans. Hawk, Dove, Wonder Girl, Garfield, Koriand’r, and Rachel will all be safe. If you do not accept then they all die. Your choice, Grayson.”

Dick’s mind was moving a mile a minute. There was no way he could actually work for Deathstroke. Did the man lose his mind like all other villains usually did? Still, he knew that Slade meant it when he said he would go after the other Titans if he didn’t agree. Years ago they had barely made it out alive. It was only by luck that they survived. Not to mention, Jason could easily be killed right now if he didn’t say yes. He didn’t even want to begin to think about how Slade knew anything about Kori.

He ran a hand through his hair, “For how long?”

“A year.”

It wasn’t as bad as he thought it was going to be. He could probably stick it out a year, It was everyone else he was worried about. How would they react? If he just up and left while Deathstroke was after them? Donna knew how stressed he was and how he felt like he was in over his head. How bad would it look if he left the team he developed? Two failed teams. He would never be able to forgive himself for letting them down. This was the only choice. 

“I can’t just up and leave. Everyone is going to know something is wrong. They aren’t stupid. Batman is not stupid. I need Jason back first and then in a few days I’ll join you. It’s the only way this is going to work.” He said. He wasn’t just going to fall on one sword for the team, he was going to douse himself in gasoline, be lit on fire, and then fall on the sword. There was no other way he could go off and work for Slade without Bruce hunting him down.

“If you back out I will torture your friends starting with demon kid. You have ten seconds to give me an answer. Yes or no?”

“Fine.” Dick gritted out. 

Slade walked over to him and put his hand on his shoulder. Dick froze, not wanting the contact from the man. “You’re right about one thing. You’re no longer Robin. You’re Renegade.”

**Author's Note:**

> Bringing the Slade/Dick ship to Titans one fic at a time.


End file.
